Moratorium needed on college tuition hikes

South Texas families are being priced out of a college education by the skyrocketing costs of tuition and fees, which have more than doubled at the state's flagship university since state legislators deregulated tuition rates four years ago.

The rising costs amount to an unfair tax on working families. It's time to make college affordable again.

In 2003, political leaders in Austin pushed through a tuition deregulation bill that gave control over college costs to university officials instead of elected state lawmakers who are accountable to taxpayers. I voted against that bill because I knew the inevitable result would be what we see today -- countless South Texas families who can no longer afford to send their kids to college.

Tuition and fees have gone through the roof since the deregulation bill passed -- up more than 38 percent at the University of Texas-Pan American, 59 percent at the University of Texas-Brownsville, 50 percent at the University of Texas-San Antonio, and 28 percent at Texas A&amp;M-Corpus Christi. Costs at the University of Texas at Austin have more than doubled, according to recent news reports, which put the increase at 111 percent since 2003.

Even worse, our global competitors are investing more and more in their own students even as we limit the ability of our own to get a college education. China, India, and other emerging economies know that a university degree is the ticket to a future of better jobs and greater prosperity.

That's why we need to take dramatic steps to solve the college crisis. I propose a three-year moratorium on rising tuition rates at the state's public colleges and universities. This will make it possible for many working families to catch up with the costs. And once the moratorium is lifted, the Legislature should allow a single yearly increase capped at five percent.

Let's be clear: Texas should be investing more, not less, in our higher education institutions. But political leaders in Austin should have the courage to vote for adequate resources for our universities, not shift the responsibility to local college officials who are not accountable to the taxpayers.

Four years after tuition deregulation, it's clear the experiment has failed. College costs are at record levels, and working families whose children are academically qualified for university careers are struggling to fund them.

Let's ask the Legislature to invest in higher education -- and make college affordable for working families again.

Juan &quot;Chuy&quot; Hinojosa, D-McAllen represents District 20, which includes Nueces, Hidalgo, Brooks and Jim Wells counties, in the Texas Senate.